


Who Were You Before Me?

by Salt_Teen



Series: disconnect [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, Gavin Reed is Bad at Feelings, Gen, Past Abuse, Self-Harm, i don't know gavin cries in front of a mirror, it's not graphic but just in case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:27:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23506831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salt_Teen/pseuds/Salt_Teen
Summary: "What do you remember that I don't?"Gavin was hurt, and even if he doesn't remember it, his body does.
Series: disconnect [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1788922
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	Who Were You Before Me?

The man in the mirror stares apathetically at Gavin. He has dark circles around grey eyes. A badly healed scar runs over the bridge of his nose. They'd told him time and time again to stop picking at it, but neither him or the man had listened. 

"What do you remember that I don't?" Gavin murmurs, his reflection repeats the words back at him.

Unhelpful as always. The question never got answers. No matter how many times he asked, it never would.

When he was young, before he could remember, his mom lived with her boyfriend at the time. She had work, he had a temper.

Apparently, Gavin had been a very fussy baby. He remembers none of it.

He'd been told things. She had seen him shake Gavin upside down by the foot. She had seen him yell at Gavin again and again.

There was so much time that she didn't know what was happening to Gavin. It was just Gavin and someone he didn't know. 

It would have been easy to dismiss and forget about if it didn't make so much sense. If the evidence of it wasn't so rooted into his daily life. 

The way he sometimes flinched when others raised their hands at him, the way that he was just  _ afraid  _ of some people. 

Gavin has been like that as long as he can remember, he has never been different. There was no way to tell if he was overreacting or if there was a certain shape that his body recognized standing over him.

"Who were you supposed to be?"

His reflection offers up no answers. The body in the mirror does not know how to speak.

It had been so young when it was killed, when he was crammed into its space. It had not learned to defend itself, with words or actions. All it could do was sit there and take it.

What would he have been like if none of it had happened? How much of him had been rewired before he could even walk?

How much of him was natural, and how much of him was damaged? Was he more skin or scar tissue?

Was he real or just a fucking fake?

Maybe if he weren't so stubborn he would have healed by now. Maybe if he didn't make the choices he did he wouldn't be breaking down in front of his mirror.

He had let himself break. His body let him break.

The man in the mirror had learned one defense mechanism before he died. Let it happen.

So he did.

Gavin's fists curl up by his sides. His reflection is shaking, tears slide down his face. 

Divided. His mouth forms the word but his throat won't push it out. He has always been divided. 

"Who are you?" his voice is hoarse, "WHO ARE YOU? ANSWER ME DAMMIT!"

Mirror shards clatter against the sink and to the floor. What wasn't dislodged by his initial hit is pried away from the wall with his hands.

Blood quickly slicks his fingers, but he cannot force himself to care. He is feverish and his hands are shaking, but he doesn't stop.

Wide grey eyes find his in a large shard of mirror on the floor. His chest is heaving and his attempts to wipe away the tears in his eyes only smear blood over his face.

"Who were you before me?" 

The man in the mirror says it back. 


End file.
